5p for a carrier bag......!!

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Shamelessly nicked from the boy [MENTION=307]Biscuit[/MENTION]'s Facebook page...

'I just found a carrier bag with an England rugby shirt in it lying abandoned on the pavement - I can't believe it's been thrown away.
Those bags are worth 5p now!'

 

[Nibble]

Not as much as it should be. The problem with carrier bags is they are the symbol of our throw away culture. Single use carrier bags are not single use carrier bags otherwise people would not have bags of bags in their kitchen.

I had a look at these online and currently it only seems like it's the UK that manufactures them. Shame. Seems like a good idea to me.

 

[Notters]

i do like it when people use big numbers to make a point without any frame of reference. i was curious what the number is, apparently the proportion of oil for *all* plastic is about 3-4% of the barrel. difficult to get a firm number, in 10 min (im not that interested). for some perspective though, that 100 million barrels is a little more than one single day's oil consumption. and the reduced consumption of bags wont make a jot of difference to oil consumption, as the plastics are by-product of the main product. no-one is digging up oil for the few % used in plastics, let alone the 0.001% used for carrier bags. it will be used in other products, or if theres no use simply be dumped.

Pretty sure supermarket bags have been made from biological oil for some years now as it's more biodegradable. That's why they're so crappy and flimsy now.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Worth noting that the 5p bags in Sainsbury's aren't the same as the flimsy free ones were up until Monday. They're much sturdier, more akin to the 10p bags-for-life. They're re-useable and according to the checkout girl this morning, can be swapped fro free for a new one when they get worn out. Seems like not a bad deal.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Got a bag for life yesterday, when the handle rips, it slashes your wrist

I'll get the door

 

[Easy 10]

[yt]gHxi-HSgNPc[/yt]

I'm gonna miss this

*sniff*

 

[Diego Napier]

I've been in the trade for 17 years. Biothene breaks down into a non toxic residue in 12-18 months.

Quick, inform Defra then!:-

"We recognise that there will always be a need for some form of single use bag for impulse buys. For these bags our aim is a genuinely biodegradable plastic bag that meets defined criteria and which can also be identified and separated in waste recovery and treatment operations. We are not aware that such a plastic bag currently exists."

 

[beorhthelm]

Pretty sure supermarket bags have been made from biological oil for some years now as it's more biodegradable. That's why they're so crappy and flimsy now.

indeed, and that's why i thought this had died off years ago. seems they aren't used because... well who knows, i think the policy was set in motion and no one wanted it to stop.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Quick, inform Defra then!:-

"We recognise that there will always be a need for some form of single use bag for impulse buys. For these bags our aim is a genuinely biodegradable plastic bag that meets defined criteria and which can also be identified and separated in waste recovery and treatment operations. We are not aware that such a plastic bag currently exists."

Not knowing anything about this topic, may I hazard a guess that the emboldened bit is the key? "Defined criteria" perhaps including "...one made by a company with a monopoly owned by the incumbent Secretary or State's brother...", for example.

I bloody hate phrases like "...defined criteria...". They're often used simply as a catch-all. If there are "defined criteria", specify what those criteria are, you slimeballs.

And breathe.

 

[Hillian1]

Just seen a guy walking out of Tesco looking like a contestant from Crackerjack.

 

[Diego Napier]

Not knowing anything about this topic, may I hazard a guess that the emboldened bit is the key? "Defined criteria" perhaps including "...one made by a company with a monopoly owned by the incumbent Secretary or State's brother...", for example.

I bloody hate phrases like "...defined criteria...". They're often used simply as a catch-all. If there are "defined criteria", specify what those criteria are, you slimeballs.

And breathe.

Well, yes, but even though there is no specific......... oh all right, all right! You're right.

The ardency of my desire for a less polluted world had temporarily pulled a heavy hood of naivety over my objective perspective.

 

[Diego Napier]

Pretty sure supermarket bags have been made from biological oil for some years now as it's more biodegradable. That's why they're so crappy and flimsy now.

indeed, and that's why i thought this had died off years ago. seems they aren't used because... well who knows, i think the policy was set in motion and no one wanted it to stop.

From the Mail(!) after Tesco stopped using biodegreable bags in 2011:

"An independent study published last year (2010) raised serious questions about the value of the biodegradable bags.

Experts from Loughborough University pulled together all the published research into such bags and concluded that they may do more harm than good.

The additive used in the bags to make them break down also means that they cannot be recycled.Their report warned that these bags can litter the countryside for up to five years before they degrade, far longer than the supermarket claims. This is because they are not exposed to enough of the heat and sunlight they need to break down.

The biodegradable bags do eventually crumble into a fine dust, according to the researchers. But they said: ‘Although these bags are regarded as beneficial by the producers, concerns have been raised that these particles of plastic may be ingested by invertebrates, birds, animals or fish.’

No evidence was found that the fragments cause harm, ‘but neither was there evidence that they do not’, the authors added."

Since then there's been increasing concern in the scientific community about the quantities of plastic in the food chain.

 

[Barry Izbak]

Chatting to one of the managers in Tescos in Church Road today, he told me they had a couple of people in there last night who were going crazy about this. "really lost it" he said

God knows I like a moan, but how sad have you got to be to lose it in a shop about having to pay 5p for a bag

 

[The Lemming Stomper]

Just seen a guy walking out of Tesco looking like a contestant from Crackerjack.

Crackerjack !

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Try 7.6 billion single use carrier bags handed out last year. The money raised from this initiative will go to charities I believe, not the Government.

It is a fact that the money raised will go to good causes.

 

[Brownstuff]

Just seen a guy walking out of Tesco looking like a contestant from Crackerjack.

Very good
This is going to be a regular sight

 

[nicko31]

Amazing its taken so long to get this over the line. China has had restrictions on plastic since 2008.

Probably about the only thing the Tories will introduce on their watch that does anything for the environment.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Beware of the automatic checkouts. Someone I know got to the end of her scanning and was asked by the machine, how many bags she had used. As you used to get points for using your own bags, she pressed 2 (she had brought 2 jute bags with her) and then the total showed up.
When she had paid, she realised that she had been charged 10p for two plastic bags, not credited with points for using her own. It seems that supermarket no longer gives you points for using your own.

She went to customer services who reluctantly refunded her the 10p.

 

[andy1980]

I had a look at these online and currently it only seems like it's the UK that manufactures them. Shame. Seems like a good idea to me.

They are a very good idea,they deal with the problem, but they don't fit in with how people would like to deal with the problem, People are happy now they are paying for something that only a couple of days ago they could get for nothing, just because it feels like they are doing something for the environment. To me that is lunacy.

 

[dazzer6666]

Just seen a guy walking out of Tesco looking like a contestant from Crackerjack.

It's not Friday, and it's not 5 o'clock.